“We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned,
so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”
~ E. M. Forster

Donkeys have a reputation for being stubborn. (Cue the mental picture of a farmer desparately pulling on a rope, where a donkey, at the other end, refuses to budge.) I have a tendency to be like that donkey. A bit stubborn, or maybe a lot stubborn. And though stubborn can take a quick turn towards obstinance, it can also just mean that you are determined. It means you are unwilling to bend to a power that you don’t believe in yet. The determined and unbending stubbornness can be a beautiful force to be reckoned with. However, sometimes you should follow the pull of the rope. And, though it is difficult, you have to let go. See what is out there. The path you were resisiting may be one that leads to the life you are waiting on. The life that you will live with determination and the unwillingness to bend to anything less than what is required.

Photo taken on November 27, 2014 on my Aunt’s farm in Manchester, Georgia.

“When you are traveling, you are what you are, right there and then. People don’t have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road.”   ~ William Least Heat-Moon

Photo taken on August 3, 2014 while driving east on Texas Highway 287.

“I would be the most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.” ~ Anna Quindlen

Photo taken on April 15, 2012 at Carl Sandburg’s House in Flat Rock, North Carolina

“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.”
~ Carl Sandburg

Photo taken on September 26, 2014 on Lake Lanier in Gainesville, Georgia

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing,
but burn, burn, burn… ”     ~Jack Keruac

Photo taken on October 31, 2014 in Atlanta, Georgia